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Subject:

112 Species (Harford and Cecil -May 6)

From:

Chris Starling

Reply-To:

Chris Starling

Date:

Mon, 7 May 2012 16:50:44 -0400

Greetings,

Yesterday I birded a few select spots in Harford and Cecil Counties and ended up having a stellar day!
 
Totaling 112 species in about 8 hours, I started at 5am with the dawn chorus (Eastern Phoebe, Robin, Great-crested Flycatcher, etc.) at my house, south of North East and I ended at River Bend Parkway overlooking the upper Elk River.  

I noted 20 species of warbler, 4 vireos, 5 swallows, 3 terns, and a host of other migrants pushing my species total up over the century mark before 1130 in the morning.  

Early highlights included spontaneously calling Turkey and Whip-poor-will behind Richie Brother’s Auction on Route 40 between Charlestown and North East. The whip was calling well after dawn (around 6-ish). Also at this spot I found my only Worm-eating Warbler for the day. Other highlights here were Wood Thrush, Common Yellowthroat, Ovenbird, Pine Warbler, Blackpoll, Prairie Warbler, Eastern Wood-pewee, Scarlet Tanager, Blue Grosbeak, Indigo Bunting, Gnatcatcher, Catbird, Field Sparrow, and Chimney Swift. 

My next stop was a beaver pond on Belvedere Road in Cecil County. Here, I added Solitary Sandpiper (5) and Wood Duck, as well as Warbling Vireo, Red-eyed Vireo, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Eastern Kingbird, Orchard Oriole, Northern Parula, and Red-tailed Hawk

After this stop, I entered Harford County and made an impromptu drive through the marina at Tiding’s Park. Blackpolls, Black-throated Blue Warblers, more Yellow-rumpeds, and the usual park birds were noisily foraging through the large sycamores on the hill while I spied two Least Terns out over the bay on a piling. I also caught 5 Common Loons flying at low altitude to the north. 

From here I boogied down to Swan Harbor Farms in Harford and spent two or three hours circling the impoundment, viewing the new containment area and pishing through the wooded entrance. Of note in the woods were Yellow Warbler, another Scarlet Tanager, and more Yellow-rumpeds. The containment ponds were free of waterfowl but one side (drying) held two Semipalmated Plovers and three Least Sandpipers. In the marshy impoundment I had two Soras respond to quick plays from my phone. I also got Marsh Wren calling spontaneously from two locales. Orchard Oriole was here as were all the swallows –save for Bank, as well as Killdeer, Bald Eagle, and many Savannah Sparrows in the recently plowed fields.  I felt lucky to find a pair of Blue-winged Teal within the impoundment as well as Lesser Yellowlegs and two Pectoral Sandpipers! Above the large house on the property, in the Silver Maple, there was a singing Baltimore Oriole. 

My next stop was the Lapidum boat landing at Susquehanna State Park.  On the river, I picked up the three expected gulls (RBGU, GBGU, HEGU) as well as Caspian Tern and Double-crested Cormorant.  Along the road leading further into the park, I found another Warbling Vireo, Black and White Warbler, Prothonotary Warbler, Louisiana  Waterthrush, Yellow-rumped Warble, Yellow Warbler, White-breasted Nuthatch, many Red-eyed Vireos, a pewee, and two Acadian Flycatchers. 

Moving along to the picnic grounds at the park and quickly into the forested edge behind the pines, I was immediately lost in a dizzying explosion of birds and bird song –this was about 1030. At times it felt overwhelming –trying to decipher the numerous and simultaneous songs.  An abridged list of the migrants that I found here include (but may be not be limited to): Broad-winged Hawk,  a spontaneously calling Barred Owl (maybe two), White-eyed Vireo, Red-eyed Vireo, Warbling Vireo, Yellow-throated Vireo, Gnatcatcher,  Catbird, Great-crested Flycatcher, Phoebe, Pewee, Acadian Flycatcher, Wood Thrush, Indigo Bunting, Scarlet Tanager, Ovenbird, Pine Warbler, Black-throated Blue Warbler, Common Yellowthroat, Black and White Warbler, American Redstart, Chestnut-sided Warbler, Hooded Warbler (heard and seen), Magnolia Warbler, Cerulean Warbler, Kentucky Warbler (heard only), Blue-winged Warbler, Orchard Oriole, and Baltimore Oriole.  I am sure I missed some –the chorus was so overwhelming and I didn’t have all the time in the world…

I left Harford County with 108 species and headed to a known Bank Swallow colony on Mountain Hill Road in Cecil County that I discovered during the Atlasing project. While the size of the colony has steadily decreased over the years and their once barren excavated hill, located at a sand quarry, is now partially covered in weeds and small trees, the colony remains. Usually I can pick up spotted sandpiper here, but all I found was a lone Greater Yellowlegs (cool # 109). 

Having hit the 109 mark, I decided to pass through the boat landing at River Bend Parkway at the northeastern corner of the Elk Neck Peninsula (Cecil County) just to see if I could hit 110 species for the day while on my way home. Here, I quickly hit 110 with Great Egret and then 111 with Forster’s Tern (3).  Noting the falling tide and exposed mud, I decided to scan the flats for shorebirds finding Solitary Sandpiper, Greater Yellowlegs, and three more Semipalmated Plovers as well as bird number 112: Spotted Sandpiper.

I love days like these!  8)

Good Birding and happy migration!
Chris Starling
North East, MD

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